% Completion question

[Chris]

I am trying to use the % completed column, but am finding
that the summary levels of % completed are dependent on
the subtasks % completed and their durations.

Is there a simple setting or a different field I should
be using ??

Below is the example from my Project

The answer I expected was
Level 1 6% and the first level 2 25% etc

Cheers
Chris

Level 1 4% Mon 3/05/04 Fri 25/02/05
Level 2 9% Mon 3/05/04 Fri 11/02/05
Level 3 26% Mon 3/05/04 Fri 11/02/05
Level 3 26% Mon 3/05/04 Fri 28/01/05
Level 3 21% Mon 3/05/04 Mon 31/01/05
Level 3 20% Mon 3/05/04 Thu 30/09/04
Level 3 33% Mon 3/05/04 Fri 11/02/05
Level 2 2% Mon 3/05/04 Tue 1/02/05
Level 3 11% Mon 3/05/04 Tue 1/02/05
Level 3 0% Mon 3/05/04 Tue 1/02/05
Level 3 0% Mon 3/05/04 Wed 19/01/05
Level 3 0% Mon 3/05/04 Mon 31/01/05
Level 3 0% Mon 3/05/04 Tue 18/01/05
Level 3 0% Mon 3/05/04 Wed 26/01/05

 

[John]

Chris,
The formula Project uses for %Complete at a Summary Line is:
(sum of Actual Duration of all performance subtasks)/(total Duration of
all performance subtasks) x 100%.

Why are you surprised at the %Complete values Project is calculating at
the Summary Lines? Summary lines are not normally performance tasks.
That is, they do not have resources applied and represent only summary
information of performance tasks under them. Therefore to calculate
%Complete at level 1, the values from level 3 (i.e. performance tasks)
are used in the formula above. The same is true for level 2.

Be aware that if there are only milestones under a Summary Line, the
%Complete will remain at 0% until all milestones are 100% Complete.

If you want a different value for %Complete, you can always use a spare
field and apply a formula to calculate the value.

Hope this helps,
John

 

[Chris]

Hi John,

Thanks for that ... yes after posting I realised my error
in the way I was thinking, and created three new columns
to enable me to calulate the % complete as I required it.

On that though I do not seem to be able to change the
format of these columns to be % or change the decminal
setting.

Do you have any ideas with this ... (I am using the
Number fields for the new columns)

Cheers
Chris

 

[Steve House]

Ok, you've piqued my curiosity. How are you defining "% Complete" of the
summary task and why is it a more accurate description of the progress
towards completion than Project's built-in methods? What information about
progress are you seeking that isn't covered by % Complete or % Work
Complete?

 

[John]

Chris,
In order to show a "%" sign on your value you will need to use a spare
Text field instead of a Number field. Number fields only show numerical
values and although percent as a decimal is a number, percent with the
"%" sign is really text. I assume this will probably resolve you decimal
settings question also.

Once you have the calculated value formula in the customized field,
include a Format function to set the decimal.

Hope this helps.
John

 

[Chris]

Hi Steve,

I have created a high level Programme Plan that links
into 4 other detailed Project plans.

From one of the Projects I am reporting the number of
sites completed for different groups, subregions and
regions as a %. (example below)

Task Total Sites Sites Complete %

Region 60 16 27%
Subregion 1 36 6 17%
Group 1 9 3 33%
Group 2 27 3 11%

Subregion 2 24 10 42%
Group 3 8 2 25%
Group 4 16 8 50%

In this instance the % complete is entirely based on
sites completed not time to complete.

If I enter these % Complete into the "% complete" field
it gives an incorrect Subregion and Region % complete
number. (due to the fact that each group has a different
time scale)

I then tried to use the % work complete, but I didn't get
any higher level % work complete figures at all.

So that led me on to where John has helped ... I have
created three new columns ... Total sites, Sites complete
and a formula for %.

But I couldn't get the % symbol to show ...

Hope that explains it ok ...

Chris

 

[Chris]

Hi John,

Thanks very much ... that works fine ...

Only catch is you cannot use the new text field for a bar
style but I have made a work around by linking the % work
completed with it and used the % complete to make a car
style ...

Cheers
Chris

 

[Steve House]

You'll need use a text field to hold your results with a function to convert
your calculated percentage from numeric to text and append the "%" character
to the result.

FYI, if you have 100 sites to convert and have done 37, you can use the "%
Physical Complete" field to record progress at 37% if you don't mind
figuring the percentage by hand.

I would suggest you think a bit more about your plan's structure and your
method of recording progress. In terms of monitoring whether you are on
time and within budget the breakdown you've outlined and your method of
recording progress won't help you actually manage the work very much.

Saying that 17% of the sites in Subregion 1 and 42 % of the sites in
Subregion 2 has been converted doesn't tell you WHEN Region 1 will finish,
whether you're ahead of or behind schedule, or how much it will cost.

Consider ... what if the circumstances of the installations are such that
the conversion of each site in Group1 only takes 1 day but Group 2's sites
are much more complex and take 10 days each? The 33% of the sites in Group
1 represent only 3 days of work while the 11% of Group 2's represents 30
days and it has cost you 10 times as much for the resources to do Group 2's
11% than it did to do Group 1's. Thus Subregion 1 is really NOT at 17%
complete in terms of the total time and cost required to do all the work.
Rather it actually is only 12% complete using my example numbers because you
have worked a total of 33 days out of a required total of 279 days.

 

[Chris]

Hi Steve,

Yes that is an excellent point and one that would apply
to the Project Plan, however in this situation I am
reporting only the number of sites completed in each
group and sub region.

Thanks again for your support with this and it certainly
has made me think again about EV and my PMP training
(which I haven't played with for a while)

Regards
Chris

 

[Steve House]

Glad I could help!